Jul 12, 2016 in this movie walter mitty is a daydreamer who embarks upon a journey to find his companys photographer sean oconnell for final negatives. The question and answer section for the secret life of walter mitty is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel. The secret life of walter mitty summary the secret life of walter mitty tells the story of the aging walter mitty on a trip into town with his overbearing wife, mrs. The question and answer section for the secret life of walter mitty is a great resource to. The secret life of walter mitty a naval commander is captaining a huge, hurtling, eightengined navy hydroplane through a terrible storm. Humorous distortions of medical terms, technological advancements, and items of warfare make mittys portrayal accurate, lifelike, and.
Mitty works with photojournalist sean oconnell, whose images are highly regarded. What the movie does brilliantly, is make the watcher feel connected to walter mitty and feels with him. A naval commander is captaining a huge, hurtling, eightengined navy hydroplane through a terrible storm. To see the world, things dangerous to come to, to see behind walls, to draw closer, to find each other, and to feel.
Identified as james thurbers most famous story, as well. The plot line for the secret life of walter mitty by james thurber found in pretince halls timeless voices, timeless themes gold level 2005. It doesnt lack for ambition, but the secret life of walter mitty fails to back up its grand designs with enough substance to anchor the spectacle. The secret life of walter mitty 20 synopsis fandango. Litcharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in the secret life of walter mitty, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
The secret life of walter mitty short story plot line by. Mitty also has a crush on a coworker named cheryl, but never has the nerve to tell her his feelings towards her. The secret life of walter mitty is definitely a journey, both book, written by james thurber, and movie form. Walter attempts to contact cheryl via eharmony but todd maher, a eharmony representative explains his account lacks enough information to do so. The secret life of walter mitty movie movie insider. I first saw the trailers for the secret life of walter mitty when i was deployed to qatar, and the plot line made it one of the few movies i actually was looking forward to watching. The secret life of walter mitty was a spry short story written by james thurber back in 1939 and spinning the tale of a henpecked fantasist in humdrum connecticut. The secret life of walter mitty is a 20 american adventure comedydrama film directed, coproduced by and starring ben stiller and written by steve conrad. The secret life of walter mitty is a movie that was released in 20. Supersummary, a modern alternative to sparknotes and cliffsnotes, offers highquality study guides that feature detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, quotes, and essay topics.
He lives with his overbearing mother and neither his fiancee gertrude griswold and her mother nor his best friend tubby wadsworth respects him. This onepage guide includes a plot summary and brief analysis of the secret life of walter mitty by james thurber. Its not exactly a typical complication to a typical conflict. Physical descriptions associate him with cold and ice. Plot walter mitty kaye is an inconsequential guy from perth amboy, new jersey. The secret life of walter mitty was released in 20 on wednesday, december 25, 20 in nationwide movie theaters. What is the resolution of the plot of the secret life of. As you can see, this story doesnt really lend itself to typical plot breakdowns. The cannonading has got the wind up in young raleigh, sir, said the sergeant. And the film reflects that aesthetically driven perspective throughout. The secret life of walter mitty 20 plot summary imdb. The secret life of walter mitty a comparisson essay of the movie and the short story. The secret life of walter mitty 20 plot synopsis imdb.
The secret life of walter mitty by james thurber plot summary. Mittys misuse of words such as coreopsis and obstreosis in the secret life of walter mitty is a typical example of how thurber employed speech to great effect. The film was adapted for the screen by ken englund, everett freeman, and philip rapp, and directed. Humorous distortions of medical terms, technological advancements, and items of warfare make mittys portrayal accurate, lifelike, and believable. When both he and a colleague are about to lose their job, walter takes action by embarking on an adventure more. The secret life of walter mitty on dvd april 15, 2014 starring ben stiller, adam scott, kristen wiig, patton oswalt. Its important to note that the secret life of walter mitty both begins and ends inside walters fantasies. Dec 25, 20 the secret life of walter mitty is a very loose adaptation of the 1939 james thurber short story which was previously made into a danny kaye movie in 1947. Walter mitty is a negative assets manager at life magazine who daydreams of adventures and has a crush on a coworker named. Being deployed makes going to the movie theatre a little tough though, and i wasnt able to watch it when it came out. He wrote stories, plays, essays, and poems, and he was also a great cartoonist. The secret life of walter mitty, thurbers bestknown story, is, like most of his fiction, short, requiring only five or six pages. Dec 25, 20 walter mitty ben stiller, an employee at life magazine, spends day after monotonous day developing photos for the publication.
The movie joyfully celebrates life as illustrated by the beautiful soccer game with walter and sean in the afghan mountains. Walter mitty is a negative assets manager at life magazine who daydreams of adventures and has a crush on a coworker named cheryl melhoff. For one, the picture that walter was searching for that was to be the final cover of life magazine is an impossible shot to have been captured, considering all the information given to us during the movie. The film stars danny kaye as a young daydreaming proofreader later associate editor for a magazine publishing firm and virginia mayo as the girl of his dreams. The secret life of walter mitty is a very loose adaptation of the 1939 james thurber short story which was previously made into a danny kaye movie in 1947. The secret life of walter mitty maintains the same theme in both the film and the short story. The film also stars kristen wiig, shirley maclaine, adam scott, kathryn hahn, and sean penn. From ben stillers pantomimes of romantic hesitation in its opening moments as walter mitty goes all j.
The plot in the secret life of walter mitty revolves around walter mitty, an employee of life magazine. The secret life of walter mitty summary gradesaver. The secret life of walter mitty 20 rotten tomatoes. Stillers sensibility creates a movie thats smarter than you think it will be. Does the secret life of walter mitty have a climax. The secret life of walter mitty is a 1947 technicolor comedy film, loosely based on the short story of the same name by james thurber. The secret life of walter mitty summary supersummary.
For the 1947 film, see the secret life of walter mitty 1947 film. This is likely added to the plot in order to lengthen the movie, and to add a happy ending for walter, which most moviegoers would expect to see. Walter fancies a fellow employee named cheryl kristen wiig and would love to date her, but he feels unworthy. Mitty escapes into fantasy to deal with this conflict. Another way to interpret this is as a sort of victory on mittys part, as far as the story is concerned. The secret life of walter mitty 20 film study guide contains a biography of director ben stiller, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters. Follows a daydreamer who escapes his anonymous life by disappearing into a world of fantasies filled with heroism, romance and action. The secret life of walter mitty movie quotes rotten tomatoes. The secret life of walter mitty 127 james thurber was a rare writer who expressed his comic genius in both words and pictures. Once i got home, life got in the way, and i forgot about it until this assignment came. Though his lieutenant fears he cant make it, the commander insists on full speed ahead, and the admiring crew expresses its faith in his abilities. In new york the clumsy walter mitty is the publisher of pulp fiction at the pierce publishing house owned by bruce pierce. He feels that his life does not have much meaning or adventure, and decides to create a.
The digressions that stiller takes as a director dont always bear fruit, and the movie in which the main plot driver is walters nascent love for. Thurber loosely based the character, a daydreamer, on his friend walter mithoff. It has a rock solid plot, thats punchy, fast, and solid. The secret life of walter mitty 20 film questions and answers. Dec 25, 20 steve conrads straightforward screenplay, coupled with warm music cues, stuart dryburghs romantic imagery and a basic triumphofthelittleguy plot, give walter mitty the onenote. The manager of the negative assets sector of life magazine, walter mitty, has been working for sixteen years for the magazine and has a tedious life, not going. Walter mitty ben stiller, an employee at life magazine, spends day after monotonous day developing photos for the publication. Walter mitty is a negative assets manager at life magazine who daydreams of adventures to get away out of the tedium of his boring job. Walter mittys story is a timeless classic, in both story and film form, and will likely be enjoyed for a long time to come, and may even be adapted again, with another set of additions and cuts to the plot. The secret of life by walter mitty psychology today. Walter mitty, american literary character, a meek and bumbling man who spends much of his time lost in heroic daydreams the short story the secret life of walter mitty 1939 by american author james thurber begins with its protagonists fearlessly leading a navy crew through an aircraft takeoff amid nearhurricane conditions, only to reveal that the scene is merely his fantasy. The secret life of walter mitty 1947 film wikipedia.
Steve conrads straightforward screenplay, coupled with warm music cues, stuart dryburghs romantic imagery and a basic triumphofthelittleguy plot, give walter mitty the onenote. The secret life of walter mitty 1939 is a short story by james thurber. The question and answer section for the secret life of walter mitty 20 film is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel. Dec 28, 20 the secret life of walter mitty was a spry short story written by james thurber back in 1939 and spinning the tale of a henpecked fantasist in humdrum connecticut.
The secret life of walter mitty analysis 836 words cram. This is the real heart of the story mittys attempt to resolve his conflict. He wore his fulldress uniform, with the heavily braided white cap pulled down rakishly over one cold gray eye. Its important to note that the secret life of walter mitty both begins and ends inside walter s fantasies. As mitty and his wife are on their way to do some errands.
It was made into a film in 1947 starring danny kaye, with a remake directed by, and. In this version walter mitty is a man of photographs and details. Walter mitty looked at the pictures of bombing planes and of ruined streets. Study guide for the secret life of walter mitty 20 film the secret life of walter mitty 20 film study guide contains a biography of director ben stiller, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis. The secret life of walter mitty 20 synopsis favorite theater button. Born in ohio, he joined the staff of the new yorker magazine in 1927. Sean tells him that he placed the negatives in the wall. Earlier in the movie, walter goes to visit kristen. The secret life of walter mitty by james thurber were going through. The story is that life magazine has been bought out and theyre preparing the print the last issue, but walter mitty, played by ben stiller, has lost the image that was to be used for the cover. The movie, while actionpacked, emotional, heroic, and welldeveloped in a flowing manner, is very different from the short story that is filled with different expressions of personality and a lot less developed, but all in all both. The secret life of walter mitty movie quotes rotten. What is the climax of the secret life of walter mitty. What is the plot in the secret life of walter mitty by.
There were 7 other movies released on the same date, including the wolf of wall street, american hustle and 47 ronin. Stiller makes us pull for walter as he reclaims his power. The secret life of walter mitty by james thurber plot. Now, im probably going to be getting into spoilers as i continue to discuss this movie, so heads up on that. When both he and a colleague are about to lose their job, walter takes action by embarking on an adventure more extraordinary than anything he could have ever imagined. The movie stars ben stiller and is an adaptation of the book released in 1939. This movie has it all in terms of the best way a movie should be made. The new story follows mittys journey of awakening, with an interesting plot device involving life magazine being bought out and ending its print run which actually happened in 1972 happening. Another way to interpret this is as a sort of victory on mitty s part, as far as the story is concerned.
Mitty thinks walter is sick and wants to get medicine for him. The climax of the story is when walter mitty stands up to his wife and, when she is haranguing him about putting on his overshoes, says, i was thinking. Its all about the chase finding sean penn wherever he is in the world, in a volcano, photographing leopards in afghanistan, or traveling on. The most famous of thurbers stories, it first appeared in the new yorker on march 18, 1939, and was first collected in his book my world and welcome to it harcourt, brace and company, 1942.
1413 1104 1341 937 1275 531 12 1179 793 1343 756 795 655 1209 1362 301 1488 1000 103 1395 928 217 965 23 669 1342 859 483 552 600 1044 743 1438 91 524 306 457 469 1081 1223 1415 381 1223 1464 907